Eigenvalue problem and a new product in cohomology of flag varieties

Abstract

Let G be a connected semisimple complex algebraic group and let P be a parabolic subgroup. In this paper we define a new (commutative and associative) product on the cohomology of the homogenous spaces G/P and use this to give a more efficient solution of the eigenvalue problem and also for the problem of determining the existence of G-invariants in the tensor product of irreducible representations of G. On the other hand, we show that this new product is intimately connected with the Lie algebra cohomology of the nil-radical of P via some works of Kostant and Kumar. We also initiate a uniform study of the geometric Horn problem for an arbitrary group $G$ by obtaining two (a priori) different sets of necessary recursive conditions to determine when a cohomology product of Schubert classes in G/P is non-zero. Hitherto, this was studied largely only for the group \SL(n).